TNS Video History- Jason Eady- "Cry Pretty"

New Music Video From James Otto- "Groovy Little Summer Song"

New Music Video From Lady Antebellum- "Stars Tonight"

New Music Video From LeAnn Rimes- "Swingin'"

New Music Video From Gary Allan- "Get Off On The Pain"

Fresh Music Friday

TNS African-Americans In Country Music Week- Big Al Downing

Big Al spent his early childhood tending to horses and cattle his family raised, and singing with two of his brothers, his father, and a sister in a Gospel group. He spent his early years listening to Country music and saw no reason why a black man couldn't achieve success as a Country musician. He told the Boston Herald in 1998, "I grew up in Oklahoma hauling hay, riding horses and doing all the things country folk do. So how can anyone say Country music is white?" By the age of 14, he was performing at community functions and high school proms. His greatest influence early on was Fats Domino, and it was his impression of his idol singing “Blueberry Hill” that won him first prize at the local Coffeyville, Kansas radio station. After the contest, Bobby Poe, a local singer who heard him play in the contest, asked him to join his band. Big Al forfeited a basketball scholarship to Kansas State University and accepted Poe’s offer. They played locally in Kansas and Oklahoma, in VFW halls and Country beer joints. At the age of 17 he became a professional entertainer with the Bobby Poe and the Poe Cats making $2-$5 a night. This was the beginning of his 52 year career.

Big Al’s big break came when Country entertainer Wanda Jackson needed a back-up singer to tour with her and contacted Poe’s band. While touring with Wanda, Big Al performed in all the West and Midwestern states opening for Marty Robbins, Bobby Bare, Red Sovine, Pete Drake and Don Gibson. In California he played piano on one of Wanda’s biggest recordings, “Let’s Have a Party”, released in 1960, with back-up provided by Gene Vincent’s Blue Caps. The single was an enormous hit in Japan and Europe, reaching No. 32 in the U.K. and the Top 40 on the U.S. Pop charts.

Big Al had one of the most chequered careers in show business, with stardom always slightly out of reach. However, he is one of a few black performers to foray across the musical spectrum of Disco, Pop, Rhythm and Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Gospel and Country. He became one of the country's most prominent African American country artists, along with Charley Pride and Stoney Edwards. He had 15 songs that made Billboard's Top 100 country music chart, including three that reached the Top 20, and he appeared on hundreds of records. Big Al's impact on the country genre is far-reaching as his music, a soul-based "True" country sound, won this veteran songwriter, musician and performer fans around the globe. He appeared several times on Hee Haw and was a favorite on Nashville Now. He performed frequently at the Grand Ole Opry and has been inducted into several music hall-of-fames, most notable the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. A beloved entertainer, Big Al would perform over 75 key dates per year, and appeared at Ontario's prestigious Havelock Country Jamboree with Kenny Rogers and Roy Clark.

He passed away on July 4th, 2005 at the age of 65 from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

New Music Video From Rodney Atkins- "Farmer's Daughter"

Stream A Live John Berry Concert Tonight

If you're a fan of John Berry- famous for "Your Love Amazes Me"- tonight is a great opportunity to watch him perform a concert live from 8p to 10p CST. Click HERE during that window of time to watch the show.

Muscle Shoals is a two hour live radio broadcast/webcast of the hottest singer songwriters in the world. The radio broadcast is on wxfl KIX 96.1 Florence Al. The webcast can be seen/heard at kix96country.com Thursday's 8pm-10pm central.

New Lynyrd Skynyrd Country Music Tribute Hits Shelves Late July- Features Eric Church, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson & Many More

With raging guitar riffs and lyrics that make up the soundtrack of summer, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s widespread influence is undeniable. Country Music’s most authentic voices pay tribute to the legendary southern rockers and their enduring legacy with SWEET HOME ALABAMA – The Country Music Tribute To Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Balancing the band’s bedrock Southern Rock and Outlaw Country roots, represents a distinct collection of many of the band’s most iconic tracks by the genre’s brightest stars, including Eric Church, Randy Houser, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Uncle Kracker, Randy Montana, Ashley Ray and Eli Young Band.

Randy Houser delivers a soulful rendition of “Simple Man” while Eli Young Band offers up a raucous version of “Three Steps,” both from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s groundbreaking debut. Jamey Johnson keeps with tradition on the dobro laced “Four Walls of Raiford” and Eric Church’s smoky vocals are front and center on the powerfully evocative tale, “The Ballad of Curtis Loew.” The 8-song compilation will be released exclusively through Wal-Mart stores on July 20th.

More than 25 years following the release of their groundbreaking debut album (pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd), Lynyrd Skynyrd’s legacy remains irrefutable. The band has cataloged over 60 albums and with sales of more than 30 million with 13 platinum or multi-platinum albums. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s influence on music remains all encompassing, ranging from Blues Traveler to Metallica to Montgomery Gentry to Kid Rock. And now, country’s brightest stars pay homage to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s everlasting legacy with the format’s first tribute to the legendary band, SWEET HOME ALABAMA – The Country Music Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Track Listing

1. “The Ballad Of Curtis Loew” Performed by Eric Church
2. “Simple Man” Performed by Randy Houser
3. “All I Can Do Is Write About It” Performed by Uncle Kracker
4. “Call Me The Breeze” Performed by Shooter Jennings
5. “Four Walls Of Raiford” Performed by Jamey Johnson
6. “Tuesday’s Gone” Performed by Randy Montana
7. “Gimme Three Steps” Performed by Eli Young Band
8. “Sweet Home Alabama” Performed by Ashley Ray

TNS African-Americans In Country Music Week- DeFord Bailey Biography

That Nashville Sound is in the middle of a weeklong special series of columns on special features, historic impacts and photos on African-Americans in country music. Today's story is about the very first star of the Opry- DeFord Bailey. It's a story equally inspirational and tragic, nearly beginning and ending with the Grand Ole Opry.

DeFord Bailey (1899-1982) was born as a young black man in Smith County, Tennessee, about forty miles east of downtown Nashville. DeFord's mother, Mary Reedy, named him after two of her former schoolteachers, Mr. DeBerry and Mrs. Ford. When he was a little over a year old, his mother died of an unknown illness. DeFord's father, John Henry, had a younger sister named Barbara Lou who helped care for DeFord. Gradually, she took over complete care of DeFord and became his foster mother. Barbara Lou gave DeFord his first harmonica (or mouth harp).

At the age of three, DeFord contracted infantile paralysis (polio). At the time, the disease was almost always fatal. He was confined to bed for a year and was only able to move his head and his arms. It was at this time that he started to develop his playing style. He would lie in bed and listen to the sounds of dogs howling, of wild geese flying overhead, of the wind blowing through cracks in the wall, and most importantly, of trains rumbling in the distance. Eventually he recovered, although the disease severely stunted his growth and left him with a slight hunchback.

Music continued to be a large part of DeFord's upbringing in Smith County. Most members of his family played instruments and his grandfather, Lewis Bailey, was a champion fiddler. The tunes they played were part of a rich tradition of string band music, a style DeFord called black hillbilly music.

On October 5, 1925, a new broadcast station, WSM, went on the air. The station, which was created by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, was interested in presenting a first-class image so it hired George D. Hay, one of America's most popular announcers. Shortly after he arrived in Nashville, Hay aired a similar program with a local champion fiddler named Uncle Jimmy Thompson. The show received a huge response. On December 27, 1925, WSM and Judge Hay sent out a press release announcing that WSM would begin a regular broadcast of an hour or two of old familiar tunes — a show that became known as "The Barn Dance," and later the "Grand Ole Opry."

Nashville was home to another radio station that started in the fall of 1925. WDAD went on the air a few months earlier than WSM and was operated by a local radio supply store called Dad's. Pop Exum, the manager of the store and one of DeFord's biggest fans, made DeFord a regular on WDAD. Pop had met DeFord at an auto accessory store that he had managed prior to Dad's and where DeFord would come to buy auto parts for his bicycle. Another one of Dad's regulars was Dr. Humphrey Bate, a country doctor who also played the harmonica. Dr. Bate's band, later called the Possum Hunters, played on both WDAD and WSM. When Dr. Bates heard DeFord play, he insisted that DeFord join him on WSM's new Saturday night "Barn Dance" program. One night, DeFord agreed to come and played on that evening's show without an audition. The show's announcer, Judge Hay, liked DeFord so much he asked him to perform regularly from that point forward.

Throughout 1926, DeFord was a regular on the weekly show. Judge Hay, who liked to find colorful nicknames for all of his performers, dubbed DeFord "The Harmonica Wizard." In fact, the Harmonica Wizard's music inspired the show's famous name--the Grand Ole Opry.

By 1928, DeFord had settled into a weekly routine with the Opry, appearing twice as often as any other performer. In early Opry years, the show embraced all types of indigenous music and made no attempts to limit itself to an all white audience. In fact, efforts were made to attract a "colored" audience. The Opry and all other WSM shows were designed to sell National Life insurance. A large portion of National Life's business consisted of small policies popular with both white and black low-income customers. Judge Hay told DeFord that "half of National Life's money comes from colored people and that DeFord had helped make those sales."Over the years, however, the Opry became more identified with music of the rural white south. The cast of the show was all white, with the exception of DeFord. Occasionally other black performers, including the Fisk Jubilees Singers and the Carthage Quartet, were featured on the show, but DeFord was the only one of any long-term duration. The combination of his musical skills and his diminutive, non-threatening physical appearance may have opened doors for him that were closed for others of his race.

In the spring of 1941, DeFord was about to begin his sixteenth season with the Grand Ole Opry. The NBC network had been broadcasting the show for about a year and a half, and the Opry was changing, becoming more slick and professional. DeFord appeared only on a handful of the network broadcasts. The slick new "uptown" acts that had arrived in the mid-1930's appeared on that portion of the show, while the old-timers played on the non-network portion. Also affecting DeFord's appearances on the show was a licensing issue with ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), which required venues to pay fees for the use of copyrighted music. ASCAP's contract with radio was coming up for renewal in 1940, and in the process ASCAP was attempting to double its usage fees. Radio networks were furious and were trying to boycott all songs copyrighted by ASCAP. DeFord was hit hard by the ban because most of his repertoire was copyrighted by ASCAP.

To counter the loss of ASCAP material, radio broadcasters, including those responsible for the Opry, created a new organization called BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) and began creating a catalog of music designed primarily for radio. Besides countering ASCAP, another reason the Opry may have been insistent on creating and licensing new songs to BMI was because one of the original six hundred stockholders in BMI was WSM's Edwin Craig. He made it clear that performers on his station were expected to do their part by creating new songs that could be copyrighted and licensed through BMI.

Hurt, puzzled, and offended by the Opry's insistence that he now create new material, DeFord continued to perform his old tunes. By the end of July, the boycott was over and NBC signed an agreement with ASCAP. Things returned to the way they were, with one exception. After May 24, 1941, DeFord's name no longer appeared on the show's line-up. He had been let go. The firing of DeFord Bailey is one of the most controversial aspects of Opry history. Judge Hay offered his own explanation in his book A Story of the Grand Ole Opry: (1946)

"That brings us to DeFord Bailey, a little crippled colored boy who was a bright feature of our show for about fifteen years. Like some members of his race and other races, DeFord was lazy. He knew about a dozen numbers, which he put on the air and recorded for a major company, but he refused to learn any more, even though his reward was great. He was our mascot and is still loved by the entire company. We gave him a whole year's notice to learn some more tunes, but he would not. When we were forced to give him his final notice, DeFord said, without malice, ‘I knowed it waz comin', Judge, I knowed it waz comin'." - Judge Hay

DeFord's remembrance of the events was very different. While he strongly disagreed with Hay's explanation, he didn't blame Hay for being fired.

"He had a boss too. It was the company. It's terrible for a company to say things like that about me. That I didn't know no songs. I read between the lines. They seen the day was coming when they'd have to pay me right … and they used the excuse about me playing the same old tunes."
This charge was unfounded and it didn't seem to apply to other Opry members. DeFord played a certain body of work mainly because, for years, the Opry management insisted that he play those tunes.

DeFord remembered, "I told them I got tired of blowing that same thing, but I had to go along with 'em you know. Gene Austin played on Saturday night when I was there. Played 'Blue Heaven' on his guitar. Well, I come back next week and had that down on my harp. They said, "No. Naw, don't play that. That's their song. You play blues like you've been playing."

Alcyone Bate Beasley, the daughter of DeFord's first mentor, Dr. Humphrey Bate, once said,
"On today's Opry, and on the Opry for generations, most performers do exactly what DeFord was let go for. They play the tunes they are best known for. Who can imagine Roy Acuff on the Opry not playing either 'Wabash Cannonball' or 'Great Speckled Bird," said Alcyone Bate Beasley.

In the last decade of his life, DeFord was befriended by David Morton, a Vanderbilt graduate history student and public housing employee. Morton developed a strong friendship with DeFord and eventually recorded the only publicly available album. He even asked Morton to write his biography.

Morton convinced DeFord to return to the Opry stage four times before he died. Though he never made the spectacular comeback that Morton envisioned, DeFord was satisfied with his accomplishments, realizing at last his preeminence in the field.

Source for the material in this section, including excerpts: David C. Morton with Charles K. Wolfe, DeFord Bailey: A Black Star in Early Country Music (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1991)

New Music Video From Blake Shelton- "All About Tonight"

TNS African-Americans In Country Music Week- Waiting In The Wings

Waiting in the Wings: African Americans in Country Music from Henri Giles on Vimeo.

New Music Video From Cadillac Sky- "Hangman"

Hangman from Paul Roper on Vimeo.

Cadillac Sky's music video for "Hangman" was shot at Tent City, Nashville, Tennessee's largest homeless community, just weeks before the historic flood that lifted the Cumberland River 13 feet above flood stage, causing an estimated $1.9 billion dollars in damage and killing more than 30 people across Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.

Located right along the river, Tent City was totally wiped out by the floods. Today all that remains of the area pictured in the video...are ruins. What was once a distinctive tight-knit community is now a toxic wasteland. The estimated 140 residents lost their homes and what little they owned.

Please help out any way you can. For more information about what you can do, go to www.savetentcity.com.

TNS African-Americans In Country Music Week- Artist Spotlight: Ruby Falls

All this week, That Nashville Sound is running a series of columns on the African-American experience in country music. This column is brought to us by a guest writer, Pamela E. Foster, Communications Dept. faculty member at Tennessee State University. Foster just might be the world’s highest expert on the subject, authoring two books including My Country: The African Diaspora’s Country Music Heritage and My Country, Too: The Other Black Music.

Ruby Falls has been the most successful black woman country performer to date, with her mellifluous voice taking her to the Billboard country singles chart nine times between 1974 and 1979. Her biggest hits were “You’ve Got To Mend This Heartache,” which peaked at number 40 in 1977 and “I’m Getting’ Into Your Love,” which peaked at number 56 in 1979. Falls was also nominated as country music’s Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1975 by country industry trade media. She recorded on the 50 States Records label and also found success in her stage shows. In the late 1970’s, she was touring through the Atlas Artists Bureau with Grand Ole Opry star Justin Tubb. She also performed with such country greats as Faron Young, Jeanne Pruett, Del Reeves, Narvel Felts, and Dave & Sugar. She additionally got significant Nashville area and national promotion on such television programs as the Ralph Emery Show, Nashville Today, Good Ol’ Nashville Music and Music Hall America.

When Falls died in Nashville at the young age of 40 of a brain hemorrhage in June 1986, she was touted by the media along with Linda Martell for becoming one of the first black women to find significant success in country music. In a brief retrospective nine years after her death, Nashville’s major daily newspaper, The Tennessean, proclaimed, “Along with other successful black artists of the period, such as Charley Pride and Stoney Edwards, she helped illuminate the black community’s long history of artistic contributions to the country.” Tubb told the media after her death that “She was the one of the best friends I ever had. Ruby Falls made everybody feel good that she was around.”

Born as Bertha Dorsey in January 1946, on a farm near Jackson, Tennessee, Falls spent her early years primarily picking cotton, tomatoes and strawberries. She dreaded her days in the field at the hand of a strict grandmother, who was her guardian. For refuge, she listened to the radio a lot at night, particularly to country music heard frequently on station KLAC out of Gallatin, Tennessee. The sounds she heard prompted her to dream of a singing career. She began that career singing in churches, in schools on talent shows and at local social events as a teenager.

After high school she moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, took voice, dance and charm lessons, and turned professional in early 1960’s by becoming lead singer with the group Harvey Scales and the Seven Sounds. The group travelled all over the country and performed country, pop, and rock in such places as Las Vegas and New York supper clubs. Then she joined a rock and jazz band whose club dates were typically closer to home. Then she decided to concentrate on the music she enjoyed most and moved to Nashville. There she was discovered by Johnny Howard, who signed her to 50 States in 1974.

She took the name Ruby Falls from one of Tennessee’s natural treasures- a cavern that is 1,100 feet below the surface of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, is the deepest cavern in the United States and boasts the highest underground waterfall open to the public. “It’s like a dream come true,” she says in a publicity brief, about her success as Ruby Falls. “I get to thinking about everything good that’s happened to me since I moved to Nashville and sometimes I get so excited I feel I sing in my sleep every night.” Of her move to Nashville to concentrate on both singing and writing country, she adds, “It made sense. There’s a lot of country girl left in me and I guess it shows in my music like it does in my talking…I love music and I love people, so my main goal is making music that people will love. I want to do my very best all the time so people will love me.”

After pounding the Nashville pavement and landing a recording contract, Falls found that having records out in the public and getting touring dates was not enough to bring her what she wanted. She wanted more. She wanted to catapult her career to the next level. A grand opportunity to just that came to her in 1976 when she won a slot to perform before thousands of country radio on-air personalities and executives from around the country. Gathered in Nashville for their annual industry convention known as the Country Radio Seminar, these are the people who somehow had to become attracted to Falls and be part of an overall effort to promote her and her music if she were to become a true star. But the opportunity didn’t open the doors she had expected, and by the time of her death she was disgruntled at not having done better in her career and had taken a traditional job at a computer firm.

Falls did not blame people’s reaction to her race for her not reaching the heights she had dreamed of, and she had earlier vowed to keep trying to reach her career goals in every way she could think of. “Everybody’s been real nice to me,” she said in a September 1977 Essence magazine article. “I’ve never had negative incidents on the road. If I did, I wouldn’t pay them any mind…I want to be a star. No one ever told me that it was gonna be easy. I’m gonna hang on in there for as long as it takes to make it.”

TNS African-Americans In Country Music Week- Charley Pride Live Performance

TNS African-Americans In Country Music Week- DeFord Bailey

Deford Bailey was one of the charter members of the Grand Ole Opry and although he recorded a few songs in 1928, he was mostly heard only in person, He was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Deford influenced hamonica players like fellow Hall of Famer Charlie McCoy. Listen to this master musician perform effortlessly a fox chase, including calls and yelps to the dogs to make you feel you are right in the action. This is taken from The Grand Ole Opry in 1967.

TNS African Americans In Country Music Week- Examining Color of Country Music

All this week, 9513 is running a series of columns on the African-American experience in country music. This column is brought to us by a guest writer, by Bobby Reed- Chicago Sun Times contributor and freelance writer.

Scores of African-American artists have focused on country music over the years. Here's a brief look at some of them from the past and present:

DeFord Bailey -- The harmonica virtuoso was one of the Grand Ole Opry's biggest stars in the Depression era. He was inducted posthumously into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

Big Al Downing -- The multitalented Downing recorded R&B, country, rockabilly and even disco songs. His country peak came in 1978-80, when he charted with "Mr. Jones,'' "Touch Me'' and "Bring it on Home.'' Downing died on July 4, 2005.

Stoney Edwards -- The late singer-songwriter recorded five albums for Capitol and had hits with "She's My Rock'' and "Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul.''

Ruby Falls -- A native Tennessean and onetime resident of Milwaukee, the late Falls had nine charting hits between 1974 and 1979, including "You've Got to Mend this Heartache.''

Cleve Francis -- Cardiologist Francis left his medical practice to pursue a career in country music. He released three albums for Liberty in the '90s. He continues to perform today.

Dobie Gray -- Best known for the pop smash "Drift Away,'' Gray released charting country singles in the mid-'80s, including "From Where I Stand.'' That song provided the title for the three-disc box set "From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music,'' released in 1998 by Warner Bros. Gray sings on blues belter Shemekia Copeland's 2005 album "The Soul Truth.''

Linda Martell -- The first African-American woman to sing at the Grand Ole Opry, Martell had a Top 25 hit with "Color Him Father'' in 1969.

O.B. McClinton -- The late singer released albums on Enterprise (a division of Stax) and Epic. He had a big hit in 1973 with "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You.''

Alice Randall -- This songwriter's compositions include the Judy Rodman hit "Girls Ride Horses, Too'' and Trisha Yearwood's No. 1 smash "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl).''

Carl Ray -- A native Texan, Ray has performed at Nashville's famous Bluebird Cafe and in Switzerland. He has recorded a track with David Ball, which should appear on Ray's forthcoming album.

James Sharp -- Based in Atlanta, Sharp has performed in Nashville and Branson, Mo. He appeared in a recent TV ad for Cargill promoting barbeque pork.

Trini Triggs -- Signed to Curb in the '90s, Triggs had a hit single with "Straight Tequila.'' He is a guest vocalist on the Bellamy Brothers' 2005 album "Angels & Outlaws, Vol. 1.''

Darius Rucker-- Today's leading man of country music came from rock roots with Hootie & The Blowfish, but four straight top ten hits make him one of the most successful debuts in country music history.

Other oddities and missteps

The list of black artists who have recorded country music includes some surprising trivia.

In 1965, the same year the Supremes topped the pop charts with "Stop! In the Name of Love," Motown released the LP "The Supremes Sing Country Western & Pop."

The Pointer Sisters' "Fairy-tale" won them a 1974 Grammy award for best country vocal performance by a duo or group.

Sammy Davis Jr. cut a 1982 album called "Closest of Friends," which has been reissued on CD under various titles, including "Sammy in Nashville: Great Country Standards."

Michael and Janet's marginally talented sister, LaToya Jackson, flopped with her 1994 album "From Nashville to You."

Most bizarre of all is the 1970 album "Louis 'Country and Western' Armstrong," which was produced by Cowboy Jack Clement. The disc is considered a forgettable novelty among many jazz aficionados.

Clement has always regretted the poor quality of the album. He has spent years recording new instrumental backing and merging it with Louis Armstrong's original vocals.

"Big Bad John" Singer Jimmy Dean Passes Away At Age 81

Jimmy Dean, a country music legend for his smash hit about a workingman hero, "Big Bad John," and an entrepreneur known for his sausage brand, died on Sunday. He was 81. Dean was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in February. He was to be inducted in October.

His wife, Donna Meade Dean, said her husband died at their Henrico County, Va., home. She told The Associated Press that he had some health problems but was still functioning well, so his death came as a shock. She said he was eating in front of the television. She left the room for a time and came back and he was unresponsive. She said he was pronounced dead at 7:54 p.m.

"He was amazing," she said. "He had a lot of talents."

Born in 1928, Dean was raised in poverty in Plainview, Texas, and dropped out of high school after the ninth grade. He went on to a successful entertainment career in the 1950s and '60s that included the nationally televised "The Jimmy Dean Show."

In 1969, Dean went into the sausage business, starting the Jimmy Dean Meat Co. in his hometown. He sold the company to Sara Lee Corp. in 1984.

Dean lived in semiretirement with his wife, who is a songwriter and recording artist, on their 200-acre estate just outside Richmond, where he enjoyed investing, boating and watching the sun set over the James River.

TNS Video History- Dixie Chicks- "Goodbye Earl"